Mastercard and Westpac Banking Corporation have completed New Zealand’s first fully authenticated AI‑assisted transactions, marking a milestone for the Asia‑Pacific region in digital payments innovation.
Unlike traditional online shopping, these transactions were executed entirely by AI agents acting on behalf of the cardholder, while remaining fully verified, secure, and transparent across the payment network. The AI successfully handled every step of the purchase, from selecting cinema tickets to booking hotel accommodation at QT Hotels & Resorts.
Although the initiative is not unique on the global scale, and agentic transactions are being tested and deployed in numerous settings today, this pilot project is a pioneering AI agent payment experience in the region.
“New Zealand has the potential to be leaders in digital payments again, and this milestone is testament to that. Our role is to ensure this future is built on trust, security and transparency, the same standards New Zealanders expect from everyday card payments. We’re proud to partner with Westpac on this initiative, demonstrating what’s possible when technology is matched with strong governance.”
Megan Simons, Country Manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands
Besides, New Zealand’s program is the first in the Asia‑Pacific region to combine real consumer payments with end‑to‑end network authentication. It uses existing card systems (with Westpac-issued cards) on live payment infrastructure rather than experimental demos or sandbox environments. This gives merchants, banks, and cardholders full visibility and confidence.
With successful agentic transactions in practice, consumers can delegate routine purchases to AI, while retaining control and full oversight. Meanwhile, merchants are supposed to gain an authenticated, auditable transaction path for AI-initiated payments, reducing friction and risk. To enable this, Mastercard has been working on its Agent Pay platform, a breakthrough in agentic, AI-powered payments. The Agent Pay program requires trusted AI agents to be registered and verified to further make secure payments on behalf of their users, whether individuals or businesses. To reach its goals, the program leverages Mastercard Agentic Tokens, which expand on existing secure tokenisation technologies.
The latest Mastercard initiative signals the start of a broader push for AI‑assisted commerce and payments in live consumer markets. New Zealand may seem like a small market globally, but it’s strategically favourable for pioneering innovations in the payment space. New Zealanders have high internet and smartphone penetration. The country offers clear and flexible financial regulations. Besides, with a population of around 5.2 million, NZ is both small enough to test innovations quickly and manage risk, and large enough to generate meaningful transaction volumes and insights. In other words, just a perfect test market for agentic commerce.
